The Nappy Cat Chronicles

Considering my other interests in music, last night, I saw what will probably be the most popular show I will see, for quite some time.  Owl City put on a show at The Electric Factory, along with the person whom I was so eager to see, Lights (pictured with me on the left).

While I could go into a review , let me just say that she and Owl City were both excellent, and that everyone had a great time.  And Lights being the wonderful person that she is, was nice enough to take a picture with me.  Many thanks to Brett who got us there, and Heather, who took the picture.

It was a fantastic break from thinking of all things economics, which we’ll get back in a bit here at The Nappy Cat.

These days, KEXP is the only radio I listen to.  And since I don’t want to hog bandwidth at work, I usually bring in my iPod and listen to it while it plays songs randomly (about 5,000 to choose from).

The thing is though, every time it plays something by Rick Astley I feel as if it’s purposely Rick-Rolling me.

Mandy Moore now calls herself Amanda Leigh and is married to Ryan Adams?

The Dead Weather = Zzzzzzzzzzzz. Is there any musical equation with a Jack White variable that isn’t a snoozefest?

An upcoming show to get beat up at: The Brian Jonestown Massacre

An event you missed to get beat/stabbed at: Notorious afterparty

Yes, that’s a trashbag full of CDs.  Thanks to my iPod Nano and subsequent iPods, I’ve not listened to a single one of those since 2002.

Loading the trashbag was an odd experience. I felt like I was throwing away a favorite childhood toy. Who would appreciate the physical aspects of each album contained within that bundle of CDs now?

Whether perfectly organized or in complete disarray, a CD collection is visually appealing. Ownership of an album on CD or, for that matter, on vinyl, is ownership of a piece of history. As well, owning a physical copy is to be imbued with a sense of security.

I’ve not been able to replicate these aspects of the ownership experience with my digital collection. I am able to delete tracks and albums at will. The album is no longer a part of my music experience. Possessing the best 10% of an album is fine enough.

The laughs and the cringes that are experienced when listening to an album’s lowlights calibrate a listener’s musical radar. You appreciate a band’s sweet spots more profoundly when you know, from experience, that they can disappoint you.

As for the security aspect, drops are more frequent than floods. But, since my music collection is strictly digital now, I have to believe that it’s not the medium. It’s the music.

Recently, I noticed a commercial with a woman that was using the song, “Hot Child in the City.”  I don’t care what Nick Gilder says, but the core of the song is about a hooker.

Now, I’m not railing against people who choose the career path of prostitution, but I am railing the producers of commercials who make song choices without much forethought. I’ve done it before with a Mercury Milan commercial.  And I love Morningwood (the band), but why would you pick a song where the main theme is the band (Morningwood) spelling out M-O-R-N-I-N-G-W-O-O-D repeatedly.

Who knows, maybe this just keeps proving that we can so easily be lost on the groove, we forget where the lyrics are going.